Returning to work?

Hello Everyone

My baby is 12 weeks old. I am returning to work tomorrow . I can come home for lunch and nurse him. I would need to pump once in the morning and in the mid afternoon and one more time during my lunch if I could not go home. There is no specific exact timing that my baby would nurse. everyday is different. My question is do I pump dry whenever I pump. because my baby doesn't empty my breast that much, I always would be able to get milk after he has nursed. One more question, Would it be enough if i pump both breasts every 3 hours. my baby usually nurses one breast and if he is awake after that say for one hour or so. he will take other breast and sleep for 2-3 hours. or if he takes one breast he will sleep for 2 hours. So Should I pump both breasts every 3 hours? If I pump dry every time wouldn't he be unhappy in the evening? night feedings he will always take only one breast. and nurse every 2-3.5 hours Please help. Thanks in advance.

Re: Returning to work?

What kind of pump? If you are using a double sided electric pump (and that is ideally what you should be using) then I suggest definitely pump both sides at once.
Pumping dry? That depends entirely on the situation. Some moms could pump for well over an hour and still be getting milk, and most pumping recommendation say do not pump more than 30 minutes each breast. How long a working mom will want to pump is probably going to depend more on how long a break she has than anything else. If the mom is a low or borderline producer, pumping "to empty" might be important, but if mom is a higher producer it probably is not and could even cause issues of OP.

There are two concerns when a mom is needing to pump regularly over separations from her baby and they are at least equally important, but I think #2 is more important. 1) That she pump "enough" milk to be able to continue to provide her baby her expressed milk during separations, and 2) that her milk production is maintained normally and that she does not become full or uncomfortable during the separation.

It is a myth that a mom who is pumping for a work separation should try to pump when or how her baby would nurse. This is not typically possible, convenient, or needed. What is needed is for milk removal to happen in a way that the above two concerns are addressed, and there are many variable ways that could happen. And it is not only about pumping- how often and well baby nurses when you are together is a vitally important factor in how well this all works. This is why many back to work or school moms continue to encourage overnight nursing and why overfeeding with bottles is potentially very problematic.

Re: Returning to work?

yes I have double sided electric pump.I can use 15 minutes break time to pump. I am not sure if I have little bit of oversupply, I get little uncomfortable when I go 4 hours between feedings. But I wont say I have too much oversupply. because by end of the day baby empties both of the breasts and goes to bed. I always encourage him to nurse at night. so he will wake up to nurse at least twice.

"Dry" meaning - empty than my baby is emptying the breasts. baby is going to be with my mom and explained about paced feeding. hope it would work out.

Re: Returning to work?

The whole point of pumping while away is to maintain your supply AND replace the feeds that you would miss while working. The rule of thumb is 1-1.5 oz for every hour you are away from the baby. With the hope that you will be able to leave all the baby will drink while away from you the next day. So if you are able to pump that without emptying you breasts the great! Do you have your freezer stash for tomorrow? How many oz are you leaving and in what increments? It's important to know how many hours you will be away and whether or not you pump on your lunch break will obviously depend on whether or no you go home to feed.

Re: Returning to work?

Hello Djs thanks for the reply. I don't have much big of a freezer stash. may be 10oz and 4 oz in fridge. I didn't stash more because I know I can send the milk I pump in the morning by noon with my husband at least even if I don't go home. because we work for same company. I told my mom not to go beyond 4 oz per session and start with 2oz and increment if he ask for more. I am confused as of now. and will see how it goes tomorrow. Not sure if I would be able to sync his feeding time with my lunch time.

Re: Returning to work?

So this is what happened today. I nursed him at 6:30 one breast and pumped other 1 3/4 oz.
baby woke up at 9;30 AM = 1 3/4oz. I pumped milk 3 3/4 oz
baby 11 Am= 1.5 oz
Nursed baby(Not so hungry) at 12:45 pm One breast and pumped other 1oz.
baby woke up at 3:00 pm =1.5oz. 4:00 pm 1 3/4oz Pumped at 3:30 Pm 3.5 Oz

So total baby took little more or less than 6.5oz. and I pumped 10 1/4 oz.
I feel he is taking less milk. I didn't pump myself to 2nd let down.
He nursed yesterday night like 12:30,3:30 So is that why he is taking less milk?

Re: Returning to work?

Was this your first day back at work/separated from baby? I would not draw any conclusions from that. Also, the 6.5 is not including whatever baby got when baby nursed and that was probably at least a couple ounces right? You do not mention when you got home for the day or how baby nursed at that point, but overall for a typical length workday this sounds like within normal range intake to me. I would suggest, do not expect baby's intake to be the same every day, and wait a bit (gather more info) before trying to draw conclusions about how much baby is generally going to intake while you are gone compared to how much in ounces you pump.

Re: Returning to work?

Yeah leave the 10.25 oz for the baby today and your pump output actually sounds fine. And yes it's normal for babies to do a bitof reverse cycling when you go back to work. It's as much about the bonding and recconecting with you as for the food. He may not be super keen on eating out of a bottle or taking food from someone that isn't you. And that's OK. Because you will be there eventually to feed him and as long as he gets what he needs in a 24hour period it's fine. He will probably eat more while awy from you. Just keep pumping to replace. And freeze what you pump Friday and always pull the oldest milk out for Mondays feeds so your stash is constantly rotating.

Re: Returning to work?

Thanks for the response. yes it was my first working day, I went home at 5 :30 pm and nursed him. he nursed all evening and nursed at night too, but usually he nurse at night or I encourage him. he was but unhappy in the evening because it took little more time for the let down to happen all evening, because breasts were not full.